PY36 THE HOME CURRENT “That Summer” / “Gelb” 7” (Pressing of 250 on Polytechnic Youth)

Second up from December’s brace of monstrously good new 45s from Polytechnic Youth, comes a new single from The Home Current. Previous releases on the label have sold out in a heartbeat and this one is another beauty.

The Home Current is the project of Dane, Martin Jensen, previously based in London now recording from his new base in Luxembourg. He co-founded the ‘Second Language’ label in 2009 and co ran it until 2014. He has been a DJ since the mid 1980s and was the brains behind the great “Music and Migration” trilogy compilation series in support of BirdLife International.

“That Summer” is a beautifully punchy, percussive slice of electronica- a real slow burner that is best whacked out with volume hiked up and complements the more stripped down, yet equally melodic flip “Gelb” which Martin himself says is inspired by his deep love of the work of “Yellow Magic Orchestra”.

Another fabulous PY 45 which like every release on the label is destined to sell out super quick. 2017 sees releases from Pye Corner Audio, Polypores, Faten Kanaan, The Listening Center and tons more. A hand numbered pressing of 250 copies on vinyl only with tasty sleeve art….

Throughout 2016 Dom Martin’s Polytechnic Youth imprint has gone from strength to strength, as documented repeatedly across these very pages. Now, just ahead of the Christmas close-down, arrives two more must-collect limited 7”-sized offerings, which stretch-out the label’s self-set minimalistic boundaries even further.

The first of these two seven-inchers comes from The Home Current, the nom de plume of the Denmark-born Martin Jensen, who we previously encountered on an essential Polytechnic Youth lathe-cut 7” in late-2015. Now relocated from London to somewhere in Luxembourg, Jensen continues the preceding single’s conjuring of atmospheric micro-technoscapes, across these freshly-pressed vinyl sides.

Like its predecessor, the two tracks here are true slow-burners that initially wash over the ears before dragging you back under their sonic waves for repeated addiction-building immersive spins. Hence, ostensible A-side “That Summer” stirs together a hypnotic blending of fizzy and burbling beats with prowling and warbling vintage synths, to imagine Four Tet records being melted-down in a vat of early-‘80s DIY electronica and Detroit techno.

Contrastingly, flipside “Gelb” is a more laidback and wistful affair – openly cut in homage to Japan’s veteran electro-pop outfit Yellow Magic Orchestra – with playful synth patterns, elemental drones and processed snappy snare strata. Together these two tracks, confirm – by accident or design – that The Home Current’s piecemeal productivity continues to leave a fine ‘less is more’ mark.